Secrets
by EyeSinc
Summary: Albus is trying to introduce his girlfriend into the insanity that is his family, James is attempting to break Rose and Scorpious up and Lily is tired of being babied over all the time.
1. Albus

Number one rule for secret keeping is for secret to be... you know... kept.

And Albus Pottter had bad history with that factor of secret keeping.

For example, in second year at Hogwarts, everyone knew he had a crush on Flora Josed, a pretty and sweet forth year Ravenclaw, after he told his best friend Scorpious Malfoy.

She was, naturally, sweet and turned him down gently.

In 5th year everyone knew he failed to make the Quidditch team thanks to Olive Finnagen, in 6th year everyone knew he failed one of the Defense Against the Dark Arts essays thanks to Leo Hortice.

He just didn't have a good history with hiding things.

"I can't believe you kept this a secret from me Albus Severus Potter!"

Said Potter winced at being middle names, head hung low and hands clutched together on the sofa in the Potter house, whilst Ginny Potter glared at him over her morning coffee. His father, thankfully, was at work, so at least he didn't have to deal with the both of them at once.

"Look mum, I'm sor-"

"And I had to hear it from Lily, who heard it from James- of all people, your brother knew about this before me?"

"Mum-"

"I bet even the trolley lady on the Hogwarts Express knew before me! Me and your father raised you and James and Lily to tell us when important things like this happen! And you just throw it in my face!"

"It's not like that mum" Albus glared over at his brother, a rather abashed look James Potter, who grinned sheepishly back "Oh but thanks James, for this"

"I assumed she knew-"

"Who's 'she' James? I'm not a gnome's mother" Lily Potter finally spoke up, glaring at her two older brothers whilst she braided her red curls.

"Sorry, I thought Little Lilykins knew" Lily threw a cushion at James, who easily deflected it with a shield charm, a grin thrown to his sisters direction for good measure.

"You wait till I can use magic-"

"Still 3 days yet Little Lilykins"

Ginny, ignoring the inane arguing of her eldest and youngest, concentrated her entire fury onto her middle child.

"How would she have known?" Albus said, attempting to ignore his mother's death glare.

"I dunno, she's a girl so is pretty crazy about knowing stuff like that"

"I resent that! I assumed Al was gay-"

"Right! You two" Ginny pointed at Lily and James "Go do the dishes- without magic James!" the almost identical grins on their faces fell at their mothers last words, followed by looks and outbursts of irritation.

"But mum!"

"Al is the one who should be getting punished"

"I'm sorry" Ginny finally met their eyes standing up to her full height"did I ask for a discussion on the matter?"

Lily and James both left, though mutterings of "You wait till I can do magic" and "I'm 20 years old!" could be heard.

"Mum, I wanted to tell you, but I just couldn't"

"Why?"

Albus instinctively moved towards his mother's now sad sounding voice. She, however, moved out of his arms, moving to the sofa.

Albus sighed, rubbing the back of his neck "Well, you'd want to meet her"

"And what, your girlfriend of 2 years who I only found out about today doesn't want to meet your parents?"

"No-"

"What, your embarrassed by your family?" her temper flared again.

"No, no"

"Then tell me why you kept an important relationship like this a secret from me" her sad sounding voice reigning again. Albus often wondered why Uncle Ron was so afraid of his mother, and now he completely understood. Ginny Potter was a complete genius when it came to getting information she wanted.

"It's complicated I guess"

"How? Is she a man? Is she a veela? Does she not speak English? Is she a goblin? Is she, I dunno, a mermaid? A werewolf, monkey, half giant?Tell me!"

"She'd be intimidated"

"How? I'm the least intimidating person I know!" Ginny yelled, as Albus tried to keep a straight face at that remark.

"She's kind of a... urrr...a"

"Spit it out Albus!"

"Muggle"

A pause.

Ginny Weasely was, for once, speechless.


	2. The Potters

"A muggle?"

"Yes"

"Is that the only reason?"

Albus raised an eyebrow "Is that not enough?"

"Well, how much does she know…"

"Nothing about magic, Merlin mum, I'm not stupid"

"Coming from the boy who thought he could hide this from me" Ginny snapped "anyway, you should have told her from day 1"

"Oh right, cause that's a comfortable conversation I want to have! 'Hey Dawn, magic is real and I'm a wizard. Any plans for tea, I fancy a curry?' Plus, I don't have that good a record for introducing my girlfriends to the family"

Both mother and son remembered the only time Albus had invited a girl home. The girl had jumped on James and began kissing him furiously.

Albus was, unsurprisingly, furious at this.

Ginny sighed, scooting closer to her son on the sofa, as he rested his head on her shoulder.

"So her name's Dawn?"

"Yeah, Dawn Fonda"

"Well, she's invited to dinner tonight, so you better go tell her. Just a small family affair, she can meet us tonight" Ginny said sternly

"Mum, how?"

"Well, I want to meet her"

"It's not fair on her to-"

"No Albus it's not fair to put a girl through a 2 year relationship without letting her meet your parents and then saying it's not fair on her when your mother insists on meeting her"

"Mum-"  
"Albus Severus Potter, if you don't come tonight with this Dawn, I swear I'll tell her myself"

"Mum"

"And I'll tell you now that I, your father and your sibling will meet her, without magic being involved" Ginny smiled widely "Oh this will be fun! Being muggles for the night"

"Mum, I'm not doing this!"

* * *

"Dinner? Tonight?"

Dawn frowned at her boyfriend as he smiled sheepishly in their one bedroom apartment.

"Sorry… my mother dragged me round to theirs tonight to force you- but if you don't want to…"

"NO!" she smiled widely, hugging him tightly "I can't wait to meet them. I mean I'm petrified and little sick feeling, but… You do want me to meet them don't you Albus?"

Albus couldn't quite force himself into telling her the truth "Of course"

"You're lying"

"No, no… I guess I'm just nervous a little"

"Don't be" she placed her hands either side of his face, pecking his lips softly "Everything tonight will be perfect! I just know it!"

"I know you do"

"Ok, anything I should know?"

You're walking into a house full of wizards.

"Nope, nothing"

"Good, and names-"

She railed off about a thousand questions a minute over the next few hours, going into deep silences before starting again. Surprisingly to Albus, she kept this up for the entire car journey as well. He didn't bother answering them. He instead dazed in and out of daydreaming, trying figure out whether his mother would stay true to her word.

"Is this the right place?"

The last question made him jump, but one look at the stately home that he once grew up inside of made him feel slightly ill about the situation "Yup"

"Bloody nightmare to find, in the middle of nowhere" She looked over to her Al, frowning slightly as her car stopped, as he looked vaguely sick "Do you even want me to meet your family? Al, if you're this against it…"

"No, no you should meet them" otherwise there is a good chance my mother will indeed kill me, he thought.

"Chin up then" she put on her leather jacket and gathered her brunette curls over her shoulder, smirking "you survived my family, I'm sure I can deal with yours for a night"

Albus winced, remembering one of the most awkward nights of his life, where he met Dawn's 3 older brothers and her dad. He'd won over 2/3 of the brothers, the eldest, Michael, still glared at him at every opportunity along with her father, Gary, who grunted in response to everyone of Albus's questions.

"Come on, I don't want your parents to think I'm crap at time keeping" she got out the car, before ducking her head in the window "crap, am I allowed to say crap in front of your parents?"

"Mum's a bit funny on swearing" Albus said, getting out of the car and walking up the drive.

"Ok, so no swearing" Dawn skipped to his side, taking his hand and inhaled deeply "Hmm chicken"

Albus raised an eyebrow "Smell of a bloodhound?"

She grinned "One of my many talents sweetie"

"Obviously" He knocked on the door "you sure you ready for this?"

"Positive, are you?"

The door opened to reveal a 16 year old red haired girl with bright brown eyes before Albus could answer. Her eyes dipped to their linked hands, before a slightly annoyed expression passed along her pretty features.

"Why didn't you just walk in? You do it every other time" she turned and opened the next door to the lounge.

"Yep, but I'm shaking it up today"

"Oh the joys" the girl rolled her eyes before yelling "ALBUS IS HERE!"

Dawn smiled, sitting down next to Albus "I guess you're Lily then"

"Yeah, Dawn right?"

"Yup, it's lovely to meet you"

"Pleasure" Lily said, before screaming "OI! ALBUS IS HERE!"

"Yes Lily, we heard your discreet voice somehow over the scuffling of mice"

"Shut up jackass!"

"YOUNG LADY!" an older version of Lily poked her head out of the kitchen, a frown set on her cute face.

"I only called him a jackass!"

"I don't care; it's no language for a 16 year old girl! Now apologise!"

Lily rolled her eyes again "Sorry mother"

"I meant to your brother"

A tall, reddish brown haired man descended the stairs half asleep by the look of it "Yeah Lily Lumpkin, apologise!"

"I'm not apologising to that di-"  
"LILY!"

"-idiot"

"Sorry, I didn't realize I wanted a conversation"

Lily scowled at her brother before spitting out "Sorry"

"Better"

The brother grasped Lily into a massive bear hug, purposely mussing her red curls.  
"Oh Lily Lumpkin" he said, ignoring her none ending stream of muttered curses and her struggling "I'm sure I'll find it in my endlessly forgiving heart to absolve you"

"Let her go James!"

"Oh but mother, I am merely showing my itty bitty sister how much I wuv her"

"Argh!" Lily swiftly kicked him in the shins before storming upstairs and slamming a door.

"That girl!" The mother muttered, leaving the kitchen before swiftly smacking James around the head

"OW!"

"And you shouldn't be teasing her!"

The boy called James began rubbing the back of his head furiously, glaring whilst his mother's attention was drawn to Dawn, who stood up. The mother grinned before hugging Dawn tightly.

"I'm so sorry about those two, and I guess for Albus as well! Ginny, by the way" she released Dawn before hugging Albus "No Mrs Potter, I'm not that old yet"

"Hey! I haven't done anything!"

"I'm sure there's something you've done that needs apologising for"

Albus moved uncomfortably under his mother's words, as he released her.

"Don't worry" Dawn said happily, not acknowledging the sudden tenseness in the room "I have 3 older brothers. They highly enjoy annoying me as well"

"I know the feeling! But I had 6 brothers, all older"

"Oh god! I feel so bad for you!"

"Nothing wrong with brothers!" James grinned, bending down and hugging Dawn "James, the handsome Potter brother, and I know what you're thinking" he pulled away "Why oh why did I choose the runty Albus when I could have had the gorgeous excuse for a human known as James Potter"

She smiled "It's like you read my mind"

"I know"

"James, shut up and let them through the door! And get Lily down stairs, dinner's ready!" a black haired man, similar to Albus in eyes and facial features came out of the kitchen, smiling as James trooped upstairs "Sorry, I apologise for not introducing myself earlier, it's Harry. Harry Potter"

"Pleasure, Dawn Fonda"

"Yes, Albus has told us very little about you"

"Oh" her lips trembled for a second "You haven't told them a lot about me?" she brightened almost instantly "Well I hope what you've said is good" she raised an eyebrow at Albus who smiled back sheepishly

"Of course"

"I'd hope so"

"Come sit down" Harry gestured to the kitchen, before allowing his wife to enter "I hope traffic wasn't bad on the way down"

"No, the roads were pretty quiet, dad" Albus stuck his head into the kitchen, surveying it quickly before letting Dawn enter. She moved over the large ornate clock looking item, though the hands seemed to have pictures of family members; however 8 of the nine faces weren't recognisable to Dawn, though their names were written in script upon the hands. The pictures seemed to move slightly, like the cards her father brought her for her birthday or like a small video screen was in each of the hands. The numbers seemed to be replaced by locations, such as HOME, WORK, LOST, HOSPITAL, PRISON and MORTAL PERIL. Whilst the majority of the hands were pointing at HOME or WORK and featured middle aged to elderly faces, one with the name 'Fred' remained a young, a large grin on his face as his hand pointed to LOST.

"That was my mother's" Ginny said softly "When James was born, she passed it along, saying I could always know where mine were" she shrugged "I never got around to changing the pictures"

"This must take forever to set up"

Suddenly, one hand featuring a balding red head called 'Percy' went from WORK to HOME.

"How…"

"Mum, I think the weight for Percy is out of sync again"

Her gaze hardened onto her son for a moment "Yes, it must have"

They sat at the table, waiting for James and Lily in an awkward silence.

"This is a beautiful home" Dawn coughed out.

The sound of muffled yelling from upstairs could be heard clearly, whilst thundering steps came down the stairs, before both Harry and Ginny smiled. They sat in their respective places before eating.

"Thank you. Though more than several times it's almost been destroyed by James and Albus alike"

"How on earth…?"

"If mum's telling my story" James grinned, entering the kitchen followed by a surly looking Lily "incident involving fireworks and pumpkins"

"And Al's?"

"A pack of fireworks and… stinkbombs"

"Seriously?"

"Deadly" Ginny said

"It took years to get rid of the smell" Harry grimaced.

"You both must have the patience's of saints!" the food was set down in front of everyone.

"Well, you kind of have to, to deal with our lot"

They ate in idle chit chat for a while, broken by Ginny's sad sigh. Harry looked at her questionably.

"I can't believe my little baby will be 17 in a few days!"

"Mother, I'm not a child anymore" Lily sighed picking at her food "Oh and I got an owl from Rose, she might be late on Friday"

Ginny raised an eyebrow "What?"

"Well she's in London staying with her boyfriend's sister at the moment"

"And?"

"Oh yes, darling Rosey Posey's boyfriend" James grimaced "Snake boy himself"

"Twat!"

"No offense Albie"

"Lily, why would this make her late?"

"I dunno, she just told me to tell you she might be late" Lily shrugged "it's Rose, you know her time keepings awful to say the least"

"Is Malfoy coming then?"

"Apparently so, just leave it out James" Ginny said, finishing her meal

"So now he can hi-jack my baby sister's birthday party as well as smarm up Rose" James began to get up "I'm going to give that traitor-"

"James! Sit down now" Harry said sternly "The Malfoy's are not bad people, and it's that kind of thinking that lead to-"  
"Dad!" Albus said sharply, a quick look at Dawn

"… A lot of the world's problem"  
James sat down, glaring at his left over mash potatoes as the rest of the gathering finished in silence.

"Thanks Ginny, that was lovely" Dawn said brightly.

"Yeah, thanks mum"

"No problem" Ginny smiled "Lily, James clear the table please"

In ten minutes, they returned, another glaring contest beginning.

Albus cough awkwardly, before Harry began "So, this funny thing happened at work-"

"Lily, you're not old enough!"

"How dare you! You were dating years before me!"

"That's because I'm an adult, not some stupid little girl!"

"Wait Lils" Albus looked surprised "You're dating someone?"

"Wait! Lily Lumpkin, you're dating someone?"

"Yes daddy" Lily said, ignoring James and Albus completely.

An array of emotions passed through Harry's face, as Ginny glared at her daughter

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because he only just asked me out!"

"Oh" Ginny smiled "What's he like?"

"MUM!"

"Oh James, she's growing up. She'll be an adult soon!" Ginny rose her eyebrow at her husband "Isn't that right Harry dear?"

"Y-Yes, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon"

"I'm 16 daddy"

"Yes, but you'll always be the 7 year old who cried because James picked on her" Harry couldn't seem to look at his daughter at the moment, instead wrapped up in memories of his baby girl.

"Are we just ignoring the fact she has a boyfriend?"

"James, relax!" Ginny said calmly

"No mum, she's a kid!"

"Al, relax!" Dawn whispered to Albus, who seemed completely oblivious of her.

"I'm not a child!"

"Lily, you're 16!" James repeated.

"Guys take advantage of stupid little girls like you!"

"AND?" Lily's temper had finally tripped "YOU shag Percy Malfoy whenever you need to" she turned to Albus "and your GIRLFRIEND knows nothing about you-"  
Albus stood up, flicking his wand at her, sending blue sparks at her, silencing her completely.

"ALBUS SEVRERUS POTTER!" Ginny yelled

Lily looked daggers at Albus, who suddenly erupted into boils.

"Enough!" Harry stood up, his hands hitting the table loudly, looking disappointedly at both children.

"I… I think I'm going to umm go like now"


	3. Persephone

"James! You're home!"

Percy Malfoy wrenched open the door before James had a chance to knock angrily on her door, wrapping her arms around James's neck and her legs around his waist tightly, kissing him soundly on the lips.

"Keep quiet and play along" she muttered in his ear, jumping down

"So this is the famous Potter?"

Draco Malfoy began to walk towards him, his face a calm mask that James saw a lot whenever Draco graced the Ministry with his presence. It wasn't often a positive sign, especially after seeing the spectacle that Percy performed.

"Mr Malfoy?"

"I have a relatively simple question for you Potter" Draco Malfoy sneered slightly, another recognisable mask seen when he spoke to people who he hated, but couldn't be outright about "Where did the tradition of asking the father for the daughter's hand in marriage disappear to?"

"I-I'm sorry sir?"

"Draco, leave the poor boy alone" Astoria Malfoy smiled sweetly, the mirror opposite in her husband in looks and demeanour "it's wonderful to meet you after so long, James. Persephone never tells us anything" she smiled fondly at her eldest child, who frowned slightly at the use of her full name.

"Daddy, mother, please" Percy pouted sweetly, innocence oozing from her as she held James's hand "He's only just come back from Europe, give him a moment to adjust"

"Wh-what?"

"See, still disoriented, but long distance apparition does that I guess" she pulled his arm slightly towards her kitchen "Come one, I'll make you a drink honey"

James followed her dumbly, confused by Draco's glare and Astoria's overall sweetness. Both were now at least, highly respected members of the community, constantly in and out of the Ministry with advice and paperwork to various departments, donating huge amounts of money to various charities and living off of old money from the Malfoy and Greengrass lines.

The moment Percy closed the door to her kitchen; she dropped James's hand as though toxic and began making herself a coffee, ignoring the immovable statue that was James.

"Ok" she took a long sip of coffee "I owe you an explanation"

"Kind of yeah"

"So mum and dad think we ran off to Vegas and got married" she shrugged "but it's nothing really"

"What?" his voice almost a yell, finally causing a shocked look from Percy.

"Shh! They'll hear you!" she frowned "Look, they were bugging me about not being married, then your name came up and I said we were in Vegas last month and got married"

"There's one problem with that. We've never been to Vegas"

"That's why I said we were very drunk, hence why I didn't tell them immediately and don't remember all the fine details" she shrugged "Not that it matters, mother thinks it was awfully romantic for some reason"

"And where have I been- ohh Europe"

"Very clever Mr Potter" she smirked slightly "you've been on a trip to Europe to connect more with your cousin Fred, who is trying to find himself. And, although it pained you to leave your beautiful new bride, your family needed you, so you promised you'd be back within the fortnight"

"Why should I help you?"

She sighed "Look James, I can't do this without you and I wouldn't have involved you I wasn't positive that you were coming round in order to beat up my baby brother anyway"

After the shock of Percy literally pouncing on him, James almost forgot about why he'd come over "Where is he?"

"Date night with Rose out in London, daddy wouldn't have come over if he was here"

"Why not?"

"He's dating a Wesealy and disrespected his grandfather as well as the family name. He's not in the good books"

"So he hates the fact Rose and his son are dating, but he's fine with you being married to a Potter"

"Never said that- but daddy can't say anything bad about the Chosen One's son can he? Rumours will start" her voice lowered "one bad word from Harry Potter could send him to Azkaban and he knows it"

The fact Percy was so blunt about her father's past shocked James slightly. He knew plenty of people had a mouthful to say to both Malfoy children, who both seemed to take it on the chin after a while.

"Please James, they were going to set me up with someone. At least you're a semi decent human"

"You aren't endearing me to this idea"

"Just do it you twat"

"Oh now I'm convinced!"

"If you don't I swear to Merlin I'll tell daddy you cheated on me"

His face fell "You wouldn't" his eyes scanned her face, trying to detect some kind of falseness to her threat, only finding hardened resolve.

"Slytherin through and through"

"And how long will this go on for"

"A couple of weeks? As in, we have a mutual separation, leave with everything we came in with, and laugh it off with friends over cocktails later"

The thing with Percy Malfoy was the James never quite knew where he stood with her. This was the first interaction they had together in about 2 months, where they had in fact shagged after a work do in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Fine" he sighed

"Really? I thought it'd take more than that to convince you"

"You know you owe me though, right"

Her face paled a tad, before she gave a pained smile "Fine, but you better make it look good"

"Deal" he held his hand, which she shook.

"Deal"


End file.
